U.S. government shutdown

drankin

If the gov't collapses, our currency will go to dirt. Everything imported will be too expensive. Then were screwed.

The way I understand it, the government doesn't provide the loan money, they just back it. Just like the housing loans.

Char. Limit

We can all calm down now:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/pl_nm/us_usa_budget

lisab

...but I was already pretty darn calm...

Char. Limit

Now you can be more calm! :D

ParticleGrl

Most of the sub-prime housing loans that went bad were NOT backed by the government. The bubble was NOT a government subsidized issue, it was private securitization of privately issue non-standard loans. See this, for instance: http://modeledbehavior.com/2010/08/2...die-acquitted/

So exports will go up and we'll have to manufacture our own stuff again.

warwick23

If the currency collapses it's true our exports will be in greater demand, but it's not clear that exporting goods can simply be turned on again. If the Chinese continue to peg their currency to ours, that market will continue to be a difficult export market.

The real potential time bomb is municipal default: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...066991472.html

BobG

This is a problem for Republicans since most Americans are a little ambivalent about their attitudes regarding abortion. You have a few that are ardently against it and reducing or eliminating abortions is more important than one annual budget. You have a few that are ardently for it and making it freely available is more important than one annual budget.

Most Americans generally frown on the idea of abortion, but don't care enough to generate much momentum either way. Attaching the abortion issue to something most Americans feel is important is the only way to push pro or anti abortion laws through Congress. It's a common tactic and even a smart tactic in most situations.

There's some blowback for both sides if that becomes the issue that holds things up, though. In this case, while most Americans may not have strong opinions on abortion, they do lean toward the idea of making federal money available to planned parenthood. So, even if both sides are responsible for letting the issue hold up the budget, the side most Americans disagree with would take the brunt of the blame.

Polling report on abortion

Personally opposed to abortion: Morally wrong - 50%; Morally acceptable - 38%; depends or unsure - 12%
Legality of abortion: Legal in all or most cases - 54%; illegal in all or most cases - 42%; unsure - 4%
Cutting off federal funding for planned parenthood: Support - 43%; Oppose - 53%; unsure - 5%

jtbell

Now I can put away the popcorn until the end of next week.

JDStupi

I think that this gets to the heart of one of our most potentially pressing modern economic issues. The very peculiar modern situation that is characterized by racking up a massive debt being nearly a pre-requisite for economic mobility.

First, our contemporary society is suffering massively from educational-inflation, x amount of years ago you could get a *decent* job without a college degree, and not necessarily have to worry about a glass-ceiling limiting you to a crawl-space.
And no, it is not because "the modern world demands more education", many jobs do not require college education, including newly created-jobs that didn't exist "x amount of years ago".

In order to properly enter the workforce, you nearly MUST put yourself in a situation where you are massively in debt before you can ever begin to get a decent paying job.
This is a problem with the structure of our economy and social situation.

It seems to work fine now, but what if there is a long-term crisis? The very structure of the economy must change, not just "cut government funding to students" that could be disasterous to our advantage in the global market, nor just "fund everything with government". Something has to be thought up, and the problem with politics is political inertia. Nobody wants to radically re-conceptualize the way we conduct our economy and, in turn, its ramifications for social structure.

That should be the first on our list. Not abortion, not drugs, or a slew of other banal crap that gets passed off for politics.

Char. Limit

I would love to see that happen. But I know that it won't happen. So in the meantime, I'll build up my massive stock of debt.